Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Not so Little Jazz, 01 Jun 2008
Comprehensive overview of the most significant part of a rich career - to say the least. This 4 CD collection starts with Roy's very first recording in 1935 (with Teddy Hill's big band), and ends with some of his choisiest work from the 50's. The booklet is very informative; it has some fine pictures and complete dates and personell listing. Also; it tells the story of Eldridge's career prior to his first recordings.

Sound quality is fine and music is, well, perfect.

Naturally, I already have some of the tracks in Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa or Fletcher henderson collections, but this is still great.
There are some of the best swing combos I have ever heard in this collection, Roy's work in France is marvelous, there are the incredible "Metronome All stars" (on "St. Louis Blues" in two tempos...) with great Billy Eckstine, Lester Young, Terry Gibbs, Kai Winding and others... Big band tracks lag behind a bit (even Henderson, influntial as he was, doesn't fare well when compared to Krupa's, Eldridge's or Hawkins' combos represented here). But, the big band sides are still good or very good swing music.

Contributions of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby (on Teddy Wilson's rightly famous "Blues in C sharp minor"), Don Byas, Buddy Tate and others are great but I would particularly like to recomend the Paris tracks, particularly those with Claude Bolling (duos: "Wild man blues" and "Fireworks"). These are marvelous reworking od Armstrong-Hines classics...

All swing and classic jazz fans should get this music on this or any other collections
Comment

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Not so Little Jazz, 01 Jun 2008
Comprehensive overview of the most significant part of a rich career - to say the least. This 4 CD collection starts with Roy's very first recording in 1935 (with Teddy Hill's big band), and ends with some of his choisiest work from the 50's. The booklet is very informative; it has some fine pictures and complete dates and personell listing. Also; it tells the story of Eldridge's career prior to his first recordings.

Sound quality is fine and music is, well, perfect.

Naturally, I already have some of the tracks in Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa or Fletcher henderson collections, but this is still great.
There are some of the best swing combos I have ever heard in this collection, Roy's work in France is marvelous, there are the incredible "Metronome All stars" (on "St. Louis Blues" in two tempos...) with great Billy Eckstine, Lester Young, Terry Gibbs, Kai Winding and others... Big band tracks lag behind a bit (even Henderson, influntial as he was, doesn't fare well when compared to Krupa's, Eldridge's or Hawkins' combos represented here). But, the big band sides are still good or very good swing music.

Contributions of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby (on Teddy Wilson's rightly famous "Blues in C sharp minor"), Don Byas, Buddy Tate and others are great but I would particularly like to recomend the Paris tracks, particularly those with Claude Bolling (duos: "Wild man blues" and "Fireworks"). These are marvelous reworking od Armstrong-Hines classics...

All swing and classic jazz fans should get this music on this or any other collections
Comment

Nice straight-ahead jazz date, 26 Aug 2008
Nice music in the Norman Granz sponsored type of good natured mainstream and swing blowing... A lovely ballad or two (Joe Pass is very elegant on Everything Happens to Me), a few fast ones, with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson carrying the torch on this album...

Harry "Sweets" Edison is one my favorite players, but here he already starts to show his age a bit.

Judging by any standards, this is very good music, but compared to the peaks of Oscar Peterson's and Harry Edison's recorded legacy, I'm giving it only 4 stars.

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Not so Little Jazz, 01 Jun 2008
Comprehensive overview of the most significant part of a rich career - to say the least. This 4 CD collection starts with Roy's very first recording in 1935 (with Teddy Hill's big band), and ends with some of his choisiest work from the 50's. The booklet is very informative; it has some fine pictures and complete dates and personell listing. Also; it tells the story of Eldridge's career prior to his first recordings.

Sound quality is fine and music is, well, perfect.

Naturally, I already have some of the tracks in Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa or Fletcher henderson collections, but this is still great.
There are some of the best swing combos I have ever heard in this collection, Roy's work in France is marvelous, there are the incredible "Metronome All stars" (on "St. Louis Blues" in two tempos...) with great Billy Eckstine, Lester Young, Terry Gibbs, Kai Winding and others... Big band tracks lag behind a bit (even Henderson, influntial as he was, doesn't fare well when compared to Krupa's, Eldridge's or Hawkins' combos represented here). But, the big band sides are still good or very good swing music.

Contributions of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby (on Teddy Wilson's rightly famous "Blues in C sharp minor"), Don Byas, Buddy Tate and others are great but I would particularly like to recomend the Paris tracks, particularly those with Claude Bolling (duos: "Wild man blues" and "Fireworks"). These are marvelous reworking od Armstrong-Hines classics...

All swing and classic jazz fans should get this music on this or any other collections
Comment

Nice straight-ahead jazz date, 26 Aug 2008
Nice music in the Norman Granz sponsored type of good natured mainstream and swing blowing... A lovely ballad or two (Joe Pass is very elegant on Everything Happens to Me), a few fast ones, with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson carrying the torch on this album...

Harry "Sweets" Edison is one my favorite players, but here he already starts to show his age a bit.

Judging by any standards, this is very good music, but compared to the peaks of Oscar Peterson's and Harry Edison's recorded legacy, I'm giving it only 4 stars.


Trumpet Wizzard!, 18 Jun 2007
Although little known today, Jabbo Smith was one of the greatest trumpet players who came to prominance in the 1920's. He was, arguably, along with Bix Beiderbecke, one of only two trumpet players of the period who didn't base their style on that of Louis Armstrong. The Rhythm Aces were a studio group who recorded for Brunswick as competion for the Armstrong Hot 5 and to listen to Jabbo's trumpet work is to hear virtuosity such as to leave one speechless. Listen, for example, to 'Jazz Battle' and 'Boston Shuffle' and you will understand why Dizzy Gillespie thought so highly of him. The excellent notes are by Michel Bastide, a trumpet player who leads the 'Hot Antic Jazz Band' in France. They recorded with Jabbo in 1982 and a first class CD resulted. This is available in France on Memories CD04 and should be more widely know.

The Retrieval issue of the 1929 recordings is essential listening; especially in John R T Davis' superb remastering. Enjoy!

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Not so Little Jazz, 01 Jun 2008
Comprehensive overview of the most significant part of a rich career - to say the least. This 4 CD collection starts with Roy's very first recording in 1935 (with Teddy Hill's big band), and ends with some of his choisiest work from the 50's. The booklet is very informative; it has some fine pictures and complete dates and personell listing. Also; it tells the story of Eldridge's career prior to his first recordings.

Sound quality is fine and music is, well, perfect.

Naturally, I already have some of the tracks in Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa or Fletcher henderson collections, but this is still great.
There are some of the best swing combos I have ever heard in this collection, Roy's work in France is marvelous, there are the incredible "Metronome All stars" (on "St. Louis Blues" in two tempos...) with great Billy Eckstine, Lester Young, Terry Gibbs, Kai Winding and others... Big band tracks lag behind a bit (even Henderson, influntial as he was, doesn't fare well when compared to Krupa's, Eldridge's or Hawkins' combos represented here). But, the big band sides are still good or very good swing music.

Contributions of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby (on Teddy Wilson's rightly famous "Blues in C sharp minor"), Don Byas, Buddy Tate and others are great but I would particularly like to recomend the Paris tracks, particularly those with Claude Bolling (duos: "Wild man blues" and "Fireworks"). These are marvelous reworking od Armstrong-Hines classics...

All swing and classic jazz fans should get this music on this or any other collections
Comment

Nice straight-ahead jazz date, 26 Aug 2008
Nice music in the Norman Granz sponsored type of good natured mainstream and swing blowing... A lovely ballad or two (Joe Pass is very elegant on Everything Happens to Me), a few fast ones, with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson carrying the torch on this album...

Harry "Sweets" Edison is one my favorite players, but here he already starts to show his age a bit.

Judging by any standards, this is very good music, but compared to the peaks of Oscar Peterson's and Harry Edison's recorded legacy, I'm giving it only 4 stars.


Trumpet Wizzard!, 18 Jun 2007
Although little known today, Jabbo Smith was one of the greatest trumpet players who came to prominance in the 1920's. He was, arguably, along with Bix Beiderbecke, one of only two trumpet players of the period who didn't base their style on that of Louis Armstrong. The Rhythm Aces were a studio group who recorded for Brunswick as competion for the Armstrong Hot 5 and to listen to Jabbo's trumpet work is to hear virtuosity such as to leave one speechless. Listen, for example, to 'Jazz Battle' and 'Boston Shuffle' and you will understand why Dizzy Gillespie thought so highly of him. The excellent notes are by Michel Bastide, a trumpet player who leads the 'Hot Antic Jazz Band' in France. They recorded with Jabbo in 1982 and a first class CD resulted. This is available in France on Memories CD04 and should be more widely know.

The Retrieval issue of the 1929 recordings is essential listening; especially in John R T Davis' superb remastering. Enjoy!

A nice niche in my collection, 04 Sep 2008
The second CD from the same session seems to have a more considered musicality than the first, not that it's bad, it's just has a different feeling about it. The balance of the recording seems to be better too which is odd since the same circumstances apply to both CDs. I guess all this must be down the producer's choice of tracks, perhapes it was a more tranquil day when he made his choice. There are also five extra previously unissued tracks, a bonus indeed when you consider the quality of jazz. Apart from my remarks about from Eddie Condon and Cliff Leman (drums) my comments on the first album are relevent. The two CDs make nice niche in any collection.

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Not so Little Jazz, 01 Jun 2008
Comprehensive overview of the most significant part of a rich career - to say the least. This 4 CD collection starts with Roy's very first recording in 1935 (with Teddy Hill's big band), and ends with some of his choisiest work from the 50's. The booklet is very informative; it has some fine pictures and complete dates and personell listing. Also; it tells the story of Eldridge's career prior to his first recordings.

Sound quality is fine and music is, well, perfect.

Naturally, I already have some of the tracks in Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa or Fletcher henderson collections, but this is still great.
There are some of the best swing combos I have ever heard in this collection, Roy's work in France is marvelous, there are the incredible "Metronome All stars" (on "St. Louis Blues" in two tempos...) with great Billy Eckstine, Lester Young, Terry Gibbs, Kai Winding and others... Big band tracks lag behind a bit (even Henderson, influntial as he was, doesn't fare well when compared to Krupa's, Eldridge's or Hawkins' combos represented here). But, the big band sides are still good or very good swing music.

Contributions of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby (on Teddy Wilson's rightly famous "Blues in C sharp minor"), Don Byas, Buddy Tate and others are great but I would particularly like to recomend the Paris tracks, particularly those with Claude Bolling (duos: "Wild man blues" and "Fireworks"). These are marvelous reworking od Armstrong-Hines classics...

All swing and classic jazz fans should get this music on this or any other collections
Comment

Nice straight-ahead jazz date, 26 Aug 2008
Nice music in the Norman Granz sponsored type of good natured mainstream and swing blowing... A lovely ballad or two (Joe Pass is very elegant on Everything Happens to Me), a few fast ones, with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson carrying the torch on this album...

Harry "Sweets" Edison is one my favorite players, but here he already starts to show his age a bit.

Judging by any standards, this is very good music, but compared to the peaks of Oscar Peterson's and Harry Edison's recorded legacy, I'm giving it only 4 stars.


Trumpet Wizzard!, 18 Jun 2007
Although little known today, Jabbo Smith was one of the greatest trumpet players who came to prominance in the 1920's. He was, arguably, along with Bix Beiderbecke, one of only two trumpet players of the period who didn't base their style on that of Louis Armstrong. The Rhythm Aces were a studio group who recorded for Brunswick as competion for the Armstrong Hot 5 and to listen to Jabbo's trumpet work is to hear virtuosity such as to leave one speechless. Listen, for example, to 'Jazz Battle' and 'Boston Shuffle' and you will understand why Dizzy Gillespie thought so highly of him. The excellent notes are by Michel Bastide, a trumpet player who leads the 'Hot Antic Jazz Band' in France. They recorded with Jabbo in 1982 and a first class CD resulted. This is available in France on Memories CD04 and should be more widely know.

The Retrieval issue of the 1929 recordings is essential listening; especially in John R T Davis' superb remastering. Enjoy!

A nice niche in my collection, 04 Sep 2008
The second CD from the same session seems to have a more considered musicality than the first, not that it's bad, it's just has a different feeling about it. The balance of the recording seems to be better too which is odd since the same circumstances apply to both CDs. I guess all this must be down the producer's choice of tracks, perhapes it was a more tranquil day when he made his choice. There are also five extra previously unissued tracks, a bonus indeed when you consider the quality of jazz. Apart from my remarks about from Eddie Condon and Cliff Leman (drums) my comments on the first album are relevent. The two CDs make nice niche in any collection.

A different classic, 07 Sep 2007
Heres an unusual album from the Oscar Peterson cannon. Its part of the Trumpet kings series which Peterson did with five Trumpeters in the mid 1970's, featuring only Peterson and the Trumpet player (no bass and drums). In this case the Trumpet player is Roy Eldridge, the link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie and one of the most exciting players in the history of Jazz on any instrument.

The difference with this album is that Peterson plays Organ on five of the seven tracks, which are listed below:
1. Little Jazz (Piano)
2. She's Funny that way (Organ)
3. The way you look tonight (Piano)
4. Sunday (Organ)
5. Bad hat Blues (Organ)
6. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Organ)
7. Blues for Chu (Organ)

Roy Eldridge is the perfect musician to play with Oscar Peterson. Having a gladiatorial attitude to his playing Eldridge would never be affected by Petersons frankly astonishing playing on a few of these tracks. No more so than on the scorching version of 'The Way You Look Tonight' where both musicians play out of their skins.

The Organ may not be to everybodies taste and initially I was a little disapointed at having so few tracks with Piano. However after a few listens I began to appreciate the different timbre and change in the style of playing that the Organ brought about.

The recordings date from December 1974 and CD running time is 43:00 - highly recommended.

During the swing era, the sound of Harry James' trumpet was one of the most glamorous noises in the world. He was a pop star, married to film star Betty Grable, and the pair were mobbed wherever they appeared. The hullabaloo faded after a while but James continued to lead his band, sell records and win awards, almost up until his death in 1983. The story is told in a new biography of James, Trumpet Blues by Peter J. Levinson, and this excellent CD is released to coincide with the book. The 16 tracks are all by James' late-50s band, perhaps the best he ever had, featuring Buddy Rich on drums and with Helen Forrest, the legendary Voice of the Big Bands as guest vocalist. The ballads are as sweet and sentimental as ever, and the swing numbers swing so hard you almost mistake James' band for Count Basie's. --Dave Gelly

Excellent value for money, 19 Mar 2004
This is a great album to play in the car to de-stress those rush hour journeys. Also to play in the background when friends come over. The astounding trumpet playing will make you smile; it is happy, upbeat, and above all, very cool.

Absolutely essential Count Base disc, 08 Sep 2001
Honestly, you guys get the best sounding jazz CD's over there in the UK. This particular disc is no exception.

Count Basie led one of the greatest jazz bands in history, second only to Ellington, and by the best work he ever did was the music he recorded in the first years of his career (1938 to 1941) on Decca and Columbia.

In the US, we have "The Complete Decca Recordings" (a great, complete collection, but sounding a bit dated due to the use of NoNoise) and the various "Essential" discs produced by Columbia (all of which have been mastered rather poorly). In the UK, though, Hep has produced a series of top-notch reissues, all thanks to John T R Davies. One of the few mastering engineers out there who's built a tremendous reputation mastering vintage music, Davies boldly dispenses with computerized noise reduction devices and does an amazing job transferring this material from the best sources available. Furthermore, the music has also been pitch-corrected (test them yourself). All of this music sounds better than the American releases. This particular release also adds the four Jones-Smith Inc. tracks as well as some Harry James-led tracks that make this disc quite unique and absolutely essential. Combined with the other Basie Hep discs, this music is essential to any jazz collection.

Not so Little Jazz, 01 Jun 2008
Comprehensive overview of the most significant part of a rich career - to say the least. This 4 CD collection starts with Roy's very first recording in 1935 (with Teddy Hill's big band), and ends with some of his choisiest work from the 50's. The booklet is very informative; it has some fine pictures and complete dates and personell listing. Also; it tells the story of Eldridge's career prior to his first recordings.

Sound quality is fine and music is, well, perfect.

Naturally, I already have some of the tracks in Teddy Wilson, Billie Holiday, Gene Krupa or Fletcher henderson collections, but this is still great.
There are some of the best swing combos I have ever heard in this collection, Roy's work in France is marvelous, there are the incredible "Metronome All stars" (on "St. Louis Blues" in two tempos...) with great Billy Eckstine, Lester Young, Terry Gibbs, Kai Winding and others... Big band tracks lag behind a bit (even Henderson, influntial as he was, doesn't fare well when compared to Krupa's, Eldridge's or Hawkins' combos represented here). But, the big band sides are still good or very good swing music.

Contributions of Coleman Hawkins, Chu Berry, Benny Goodman, Oscar Peterson, Gene Krupa, Israel Crosby (on Teddy Wilson's rightly famous "Blues in C sharp minor"), Don Byas, Buddy Tate and others are great but I would particularly like to recomend the Paris tracks, particularly those with Claude Bolling (duos: "Wild man blues" and "Fireworks"). These are marvelous reworking od Armstrong-Hines classics...

All swing and classic jazz fans should get this music on this or any other collections
Comment

Nice straight-ahead jazz date, 26 Aug 2008
Nice music in the Norman Granz sponsored type of good natured mainstream and swing blowing... A lovely ballad or two (Joe Pass is very elegant on Everything Happens to Me), a few fast ones, with Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson carrying the torch on this album...

Harry "Sweets" Edison is one my favorite players, but here he already starts to show his age a bit.

Judging by any standards, this is very good music, but compared to the peaks of Oscar Peterson's and Harry Edison's recorded legacy, I'm giving it only 4 stars.


Trumpet Wizzard!, 18 Jun 2007
Although little known today, Jabbo Smith was one of the greatest trumpet players who came to prominance in the 1920's. He was, arguably, along with Bix Beiderbecke, one of only two trumpet players of the period who didn't base their style on that of Louis Armstrong. The Rhythm Aces were a studio group who recorded for Brunswick as competion for the Armstrong Hot 5 and to listen to Jabbo's trumpet work is to hear virtuosity such as to leave one speechless. Listen, for example, to 'Jazz Battle' and 'Boston Shuffle' and you will understand why Dizzy Gillespie thought so highly of him. The excellent notes are by Michel Bastide, a trumpet player who leads the 'Hot Antic Jazz Band' in France. They recorded with Jabbo in 1982 and a first class CD resulted. This is available in France on Memories CD04 and should be more widely know.

The Retrieval issue of the 1929 recordings is essential listening; especially in John R T Davis' superb remastering. Enjoy!

A nice niche in my collection, 04 Sep 2008
The second CD from the same session seems to have a more considered musicality than the first, not that it's bad, it's just has a different feeling about it. The balance of the recording seems to be better too which is odd since the same circumstances apply to both CDs. I guess all this must be down the producer's choice of tracks, perhapes it was a more tranquil day when he made his choice. There are also five extra previously unissued tracks, a bonus indeed when you consider the quality of jazz. Apart from my remarks about from Eddie Condon and Cliff Leman (drums) my comments on the first album are relevent. The two CDs make nice niche in any collection.

A different classic, 07 Sep 2007
Heres an unusual album from the Oscar Peterson cannon. Its part of the Trumpet kings series which Peterson did with five Trumpeters in the mid 1970's, featuring only Peterson and the Trumpet player (no bass and drums). In this case the Trumpet player is Roy Eldridge, the link between Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie and one of the most exciting players in the history of Jazz on any instrument.

The difference with this album is that Peterson plays Organ on five of the seven tracks, which are listed below:
1. Little Jazz (Piano)
2. She's Funny that way (Organ)
3. The way you look tonight (Piano)
4. Sunday (Organ)
5. Bad hat Blues (Organ)
6. Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Organ)
7. Blues for Chu (Organ)

Roy Eldridge is the perfect musician to play with Oscar Peterson. Having a gladiatorial attitude to his playing Eldridge would never be affected by Petersons frankly astonishing playing on a few of these tracks. No more so than on the scorching version of 'The Way You Look Tonight' where both musicians play out of their skins.

The Organ may not be to everybodies taste and initially I was a little disapointed at having so few tracks with Piano. However after a few listens I began to appreciate the different timbre and change in the style of playing that the Organ brought about.

The recordings date from December 1974 and CD running time is 43:00 - highly recommended.

A revelation..., 21 Nov 2008
In one of those late night "music swapping" conversations a few months ago someone recommended to me Buck Clayton's "Jazz Sessions Volume 1". I hadn't heard of Buck Clayton before and the prospect of early 50's big band music didn't sound too encouraging but, regardless of this, I bought the CD and... wow!... it hasn't been off my stereo for weeks. Great music is timeless and this is a superb and timeless piece of beautifully relaxed and inspired playing. If you like this type of jazz you're probably wondering why I'm making a fuss about it but if, like me, you're not really into it then do yourself a huge favour and check it out.. you won't be disappointed.



An awesome album!, 13 Jun 2000
I can still remember the awe and the thrill when I first heard the tracks on this album many years ago on an older compilation - "The Hucklebuck" raised the hair on the back of my neck then, and it still does now! The Clayton jam sessions of the early 50's were important landmarks in the history of (the then new technology of) the long playing record.The producers George Avakian and John Hammond were intoxicated by the possibilities of the new freedom the medium allowed (remember that before tape, records were hard pressed to last much beyond four minutes of continuous recording) and the original "Hucklebuck" LP consisted of just two tracks, one on each side. More questionably, tape allowed Avakian to edit and splice the best of different takes into one, which did allow us to hear the best of the sessions, but does result in some occaisional jump cuts that grate a bit. Nevertheless, these are momumental recordings with an epic sweep that fully occupy the great space allowed them. Their popularity contributed in no small measure to the saving of a whole generation of swing era giants whose music had fallen out of fashion in the heady years of bop as the big bands crumbled away. The classic Basie rhythmn section of Freddie Greene, Jo Jones and Walter Page mix up a beat that is so rich as to be more felt than heard, almost reggae-like in its depth, underneath the gloriously riff-heavy arrangements. The interplay between the musicians is spellbinding, with Clayton, Joe Newman and the trombonists outstanding. The recordings were captured with an amazing, natural 'live' room sound on a single mike with one additional pick up, I think for the piano. And this leads me to my only quibble, which has probably the best of the material: the sound quality of this Spanish release. The sound quality on the Spanish vinyl release some years ago was noticeably muffled, and the same is true of the cd release, despite the digital remastering. Original master tapes are clearly not being used. It still sounds great, but if you are fortunate enough to own the original vinyl release in near mint condition, you'll know what's missing!

Buck Clayton-Mainstream Dream, 20 May 2000
There has always been a place in the Jazz repertoire for a gathering of players, each a master of his instrument, to get together and create beautiful jazz.

Volumes 1 & 2 of these Buck Clayton CD's make up such a collection. Volume one includes some 'live' tracks, but the majority are studio sessions, which allow each artist free reign to show off his talents. Some doctoring has been done by the producer,who was able to assemble various 'takes' to maximum effect.

Both CD's are very worthwhile, and a must for any collector of Mainstream jazz.

Buck Clayton--Mainstream Dream, 18 May 2000
There has always been a place in the Jazz repetoire for a group of players, each a master of his instrument, to get together and build beautiful jazz.

Volumes 1 & 2 of Buck Clayton is just such a collection. Volume 1 includes some concert tracks, whilst the majority are studio sessions which allow each artist free rain to show off his talents. Some doctoring has been done, the engineer picking the best solos, to maximum effect.

The whole dopuble CD is very worthwhile and a 'must' for any collector